Behavioral Mapping
Co-Design / Design Anthropology
Definition
Behavioral mapping uses participatory mapping to focus on understanding the physical infrastructure of a community and that influences peoples actions. It is place-centered view instead of individual centered.
“Participatory mapping has been adapted in the field of public health to identify malaria breeding sites, garbage burning sites and areas of high sexual risk and to describe patterns of health service utilization and patterns of mobility that may describe the spread of
epidemics.”
— Suzanne Maman, Using Participatory Mapping to Inform a Community-Randomized Trial of HIV Counseling and Testing Pg 370
Procedure
Preparation
Bring mapping supplies, such as large paper and markers
Make sure to contact community leaders that can give you access and help others understand your goals
Make sure to reach out to participants that have good spatial navigation and specifically use several different types of transportation.
Bring recording device
In person
Make sure that you create a comfortable space and address your participate in a kind manner to set them at ease.
Explain the goal of the mapping.
Help them engage with the map, by asking them to create a map for someone who cannot read street signs so needs landmarks to navigate by.
Start from the beginning of a typical day and work your way through prompting the participant to draw their path and mode of transportation, as well as what they do and what physical objects they interact with along the way.
Then ask about a non typical day, what different paths they take and what other physical spaces they interact with.
Analysis
Take the maps and overlay them. Find the commonalities and differences.
Then go back to the recordings and try to understand why the differences occurred between participants.
Try to understand where the physical structure of the community has influenced the way your participant moves through the community.
Lastly try to identify opportunity spaces in the maps.
Use Case
While researching waste management for the city of Bloomington me and my team interviewed a an undergraduate student about how Bloomington’s physical infrastructure influences her ability to recycle.
Strengths
Mapping has been used for thousands of year for a good reason. It is a way for one person to communicate how they interact with the world with another person.
Behavioral mapping in great at uncovering where physical hurdles are inhibiting the movement or progress of a community.
Weaknesses
People experience different physical spaces very differently.
For example for those who have to walk or bike, road can be scary barriers. While those with cars see roads as access pathways.
